Grunts on the line, where the enemy wants them dead, still goof off - even knowing that by letting their guard down they might die.
High school teachers who want to get reluctant readers turned around need to give the students some say in the reading list. Make it collaborative: The students will feel ownership, and everyone will dig in.
I don't think there's a whole lot of class literature at all. I think most of that has become racially based, and people don't think of it as being class literature.

